Yes, Antipolo City, the capital of Rizal got it's name from the Antipolo tree decades ago. Apparently, the city had an abundant supply of Antipolo trees from it's original forest, hence the name Antipolo City.
Fortunately, the Antipolo tree is endemic to the Philippines, however, it is indigenous to other cities within the country such as Calumpit, Bulacan being it's neighbor. Kalumpit is also a native tree, which I already discussed earlier.
Going back, the Antipolo tree belongs to the family MORACEAE and genus Artocarpus. It's scientific name is Artocarpus blancoi and is very much related to the popular jackfruit/Nangka/Langka (Artocarpus heterophyllus). Similarly, the seeds of the Antipolo can also be cooked or boiled or eaten raw by birds and land animals. I am not sure if the flesh is also edible. The wood of this tree is said to be of good quality and can be used to make furniture. The tree stands to about 30-40 meters in height and can reach a diameter of about 1-2 meters.
An added information to Antipolo is that according to wikipedia, "The name Artocarpus is derived from the Greek words artos (=bread) and karpos (=fruit)." Thus on some edible species, this breadfruit is eaten as a staple diet. On another note, wikipedia also mentioned that, "All Artocarpus species are laticiferous trees or shrubs whose leaves, twigs and the stem can produce a milky sap." 
6 comments:
is this the same tree whose leaves are used as plates in Batanes? they even sell tree saplings at batanes airport
I've never been to Batanes yet.
when i was young i used to eat the seeds of this tree. we roast it. nice.
roasted seeds of this tree is slighty taste of roasted peanut..hhhmmm yummy heah!!!
thanks for sharing:)
thanks for this info! i'll use it on my article :)
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